SF/F Books: Chapter Two - What Are You Reading?

[Steve Roby]

Still haven't read my copy of Neverwhere, but I had to comment on the bit in the sig saying "Dizzee Rascal for Prime Minister." If there's a place online I didn't expect to see Dizzee Rascal mentioned, it's TrekBBS. I'm more into dubstep than grime, but I've got legal downloads of Dizzee's albums (and some Wiley and others as well). Though Dizzee seems to be more hiphop than grime these days.

As for current reading: finally got The Writer's Tale by Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook, which is massive and I'll be reading that for some time, I think.

 

[Stevil2001]

^ I sped right through The Writer's Tale because I couldn't put it down, much to the detriment of my reading of Foucault and Chaucer.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Still haven't read my copy of Neverwhere, but I had to comment on the bit in the sig saying "Dizzee Rascal for Prime Minister." If there's a place online I didn't expect to see Dizzee Rascal mentioned, it's TrekBBS. I'm more into dubstep than grime, but I've got legal downloads of Dizzee's albums (and some Wiley and others as well). Though Dizzee seems to be more hiphop than grime these days.

As for current reading: finally got The Writer's Tale by Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook, which is massive and I'll be reading that for some time, I think.

I'm not a big fan of Dizzee's, but I do like some of his stuff. I have got his last album and latest single. I'm not sure whether I prefer his earlier stuff or the newer stuff though.
But the sig is a reference to something Deckerd posted, an interview with him on Newsnight after Barack Obama was elected. Jeremy Paxman asked him about if he thought one person can make a difference, and asked if he'd consider running for Parliament, to which he replied "See that’s a very good idea, I might have to do that one day still. Dizzee Rascal for Prime Minister yeah?"
"

And I'm with Steve, I couldn't put The Writers Tale down. It was a very interesting read, but it felt voyeuristic at times. Especially when he was talking about the past, and feeling like going out and getting wrecked.

 

[Daddy Todd]

I just finished a marathon read of Jack Vance's "Demon Princes" quintet: The Star King, The Killing Machine, The Palace of Love, The Face and The Book of Dreams. Wonderful stuff!

I was hoping I'd have Destiny III by now (it's been at my local post office since Tuesday but they don't seem very eager to deliver it to my house, for some strange reason) so I'll probably read Vance's Maske: Thaery while I continue to wait

 

[stj]

Starting Neal Stephenson's Anathem. Literally, I'm over a hundred pages in but the plot isn't moving very fast. In fact, it's so slow that I've taken some breaks to read a few Henry James short stories I got in a library sale. The grim part is that some of the Henry James is more interesting!

Does this mean my tastes are finally maturing, or that Stephenson is kind of bloated?

 

[S. Gomez]

^Funny you should mention Stephenson. After hearing a bit about him, I've grown interested in checking him out. Cryptonomicon sounds the most interesting, but I won't be able to get it from the library for a few weeks... unless I find it for really cheap in a used bookstore of course.

 

[Stevil2001]

^ The only Stephenson I've read was Snow Crash, which I thought was good. I've got The Diamond Age, and I'll read it someday, too.

Right now I'm reading Fast Forward 2, an anthology of original short sf. I'm partway through the first story, which is by Paul Cornell-- the reason I bought the book.

 

[Steve Roby]

"See that’s a very good idea, I might have to do that one day still. Dizzee Rascal for Prime Minister yeah?"

The Right Honourable Dizzee Rascal. Has an interesting ring to it.

I just finished a marathon read of Jack Vance's "Demon Princes" quintet: The Star King, The Killing Machine, The Palace of Love, The Face and The Book of Dreams. Wonderful stuff

Vance seems to be relatively forgotten these days, which is a shame. I've read dozens of his books. Great stylist, wonderful storyteller.

^ The only Stephenson I've read was Snow Crash, which I thought was good. I've got The Diamond Age, and I'll read it someday, too.

Snow Crash was fun if kind of derivative; haven't read my copy of The Diamond Age yet either. I remember liking his book Interface, a political intrigue/SF/satire novel he co-wrote with his uncle under the name Stephen Bury. I haven't read his more recent books because they look more like homework than recreation.

 

[Skywalker]

The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle by Jim Butcher. A prequel graphic novel to the series.

 

[Othello]

Right now I am reading both Terry Brooks Running With The Demon from the Word and the Void series and the Dragonlance book The Survivors by Tracy Hickman. After I finish those I'll likely read the sequel to the Brooks book an The Heir of Kayolin which is another Dragonlance book.

 

[S. Gomez]

Just picked up The Martian Chronicles from the library. I'm looking forward to it, since (shame of shames) I've never read Ray Bradbury before. If I like it, I may pick up Fahrenheit 451 in the near future.

 

[Stevil2001]

^ You will and you should.

Though I'm ashamed to say that those two are the only Bradbury I've ever read.

 

[Steve Roby]

Just picked up The Martian Chronicles from the library. I'm looking forward to it, since (shame of shames) I've never read Ray Bradbury before. If I like it, I may pick up Fahrenheit 451 in the near future.

^ You will and you should.

Though I'm ashamed to say that those two are the only Bradbury I've ever read.

I've read several of his old SF short story collections (The Illustrated Man, R is for Rocket, etc), and if you like The Martian Chronicles, you'll probably find them worth tracking down. I liked Something Wicked This Way Comes, too, which is a fantasy/horror novel, and A Memory of Murder, a collection of 1940s pulp crime fiction stories -- the latter is not typical Bradbury at all, and certainly not his best work, but it's fun.

There's a bit of duplication of stories in the old collections, though, so there may be better, more recent compilations of his classic SF stories.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Half way through The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller

Not sure what to make of it yet, but I can certainly say without reservation that I hate the artwork.


Hugo - Where are you Dick... You were always... my little Monkey Wrench

 

[S. Gomez]

Just picked up The Martian Chronicles from the library. I'm looking forward to it, since (shame of shames) I've never read Ray Bradbury before. If I like it, I may pick up Fahrenheit 451 in the near future.

^ You will and you should.

Though I'm ashamed to say that those two are the only Bradbury I've ever read.

I've read several of his old SF short story collections (The Illustrated Man, R is for Rocket, etc), and if you like The Martian Chronicles, you'll probably find them worth tracking down. I liked Something Wicked This Way Comes, too, which is a fantasy/horror novel, and A Memory of Murder, a collection of 1940s pulp crime fiction stories -- the latter is not typical Bradbury at all, and certainly not his best work, but it's fun.

There's a bit of duplication of stories in the old collections, though, so there may be better, more recent compilations of his classic SF stories.

Yeah, the library has The October Country and The Illustrated Man as well as the novel Death Is A Lonely Business, all of which I'm hoping to check out.

 

[Stevil2001]

Oh! I have read Something Wicked This Way Comes. I liked that, too. Suitably creepy.

 

[S. Gomez]

The Martian Chronicles. The first thing that springs to mind is "That was wonderful." Bradbury is a fantastic writer, and there are some great stories in this collection. I should probably also say that he did a good job of "fixing up" the volume. I wouldn't have been able to tell that they were originally separately published stories, they seemed to follow on quite naturally from one to the other. At least I thought so.

Going on to Bradbury's The October Country now, and although I found Something Wicked This Way Comes, I might try and get a hold of either Fahrenheit 451 or The Illustrated Man first.

 

[Bishbot]

Half way through The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller

Not sure what to make of it yet, but I can certainly say without reservation that I hate the artwork.


Hugo - Where are you Dick... You were always... my little Monkey Wrench

Oh that's sad. I've always thought the art for DKR was very dynamic and strong, although at first the many many panels a page can be a little daunting. I think I put it back on the shelf, not knowing its legendary status, at least twice in the library before deciding to try it and then falling in love.

I'm just about to start "The Reality Dysfunction" by Peter F. Hamilton. Wish me luck, its ENORMOUS.

 

[ToddPence]

I just finished a marathon read of Jack Vance's "Demon Princes" quintet: The Star King, The Killing Machine, The Palace of Love, The Face and The Book of Dreams. Wonderful stuff!

Ah! You've read "The Star King". That means that you've been introduced to sci-fi's original Mr. Spock!

 

[Daddy Todd]

I just finished a marathon read of Jack Vance's "Demon Princes" quintet: The Star King, The Killing Machine, The Palace of Love, The Face and The Book of Dreams. Wonderful stuff!

Ah! You've read "The Star King". That means that you've been introduced to sci-fi's original Mr. Spock!

Yep yep, I did smile at that.

While waiting for Lost Souls to show up, I started reading Vance's Space Opera to pass the time. Fortunately it's pretty short, because now Destiny will have to wait till I finish it!